What Distro?

[Seth]

I've decided to delve more into a Linux distro as it's a powerfull tool to have. Which brings me to these two questions:

1) What distro do you recommend for backup (as in Pete's scenerio)? Or, do you know of a completely different program that would be easier to use for such a task?

2) What distro do you recommend for diagnostics? For example, let's say I encounter a problem but am having difficulty in determining if it's a Windows problem or a hardware problem.

Also, "Distro" just refers to the various Linux versions, right?

[Tortanick]

Well normally distro referes to varous linux versions, but I think it can be used to refer to any UNIX, not too sure about that.

Anyway most Live CDs will do for backup, I think Knoppix (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/7357) should do well at diagnostics it has very good hardware support and sevral packages dedicated to system recovery

This book (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/knoppixhks/toc.html) may be good, I havn't looked inside though

[PeteF]

Also, "Distro" just refers to the various Linux versions, right?

Correct.

As for best distro as a utility, Puppy might be best because it's
one of smallest distros and startups up fast. Remember though,
I've only tested 3 distros so maybe someone else can verify
what I'm saying or suggest otherwise.

Puppy also allows you to customize the settings save them to the
HD or CD or maybe even a flash drive. I've oly done it to HD so far.
What this means is, you keep the original Puppy boot CD
(ref to as Live CD) as is and just save the settings to the other media.
Then when you boot up the next time if it finds the settings file it will
retain those settings.

I'm not 100% sure but I also think Puppy will allow you to burn a
new Puppy Live CD with all your settings. If true, I wonder if it's
possible to add and/or remove programs in Puppy and save the
whole thing? In effect creating your own version of the
Puppy distro.

http://www.puppylinux.org

---pete---

[Seth]

Thanks for the replies.

Hardware support will be a top priority for diagnostic purposes. My main concern will be the distro's ability to detect USB devices.

So far, it seems that Knoppix may be the best choice for this. Knoppix is the only distro that I've used (and rarely).

[Smokey]

Check this site out, for some of you with minimal/little linux experience, this may help in choosing a distro:

http://eedok.voidofmind.com/linux/chooser.html

[Tortanick]

Smokey, that assumes you want to use it as your primary OS, not for rescue.

And Pete, I hesitate to recomend Puppy because it's probobly got less hardware support than Knoppix, and almost certianly less rescue apps. Although there is probobly a specalised rescue distro or two around I don't know what they are, and I do know Knoppix serves well for a rescue disk

[Smokey]

Correct, for rescue, the best option would be a Knoppix distro.

[Seth]

Well fella's, that's good enough for me.

I'll stick with Knoppix.

Thanks for the replies!

[PeteF]

Smokey, that assumes you want to use it as your primary OS, not for rescue.

And Pete, I hesitate to recomend Puppy because it's probobly got less hardware support than Knoppix, and almost certianly less rescue apps. Although there is probobly a specalised rescue distro or two around I don't know what they are, and I do know Knoppix serves well for a rescue disk

I agree, the choice of distro for rescue would be different than for normal
use. Puppy seems to work pretty well for USB support and Video drivers.
I did find it limited whe it did not have a driver for my Netgear FA311
Network adapter, so I'd say it's not the best for Network support.

Looks like I'll need to check out Knoppix.
Where the heck do they come up with these whacky names? :D

---pete---

[Tortanick]

Knoppix comes from Klaus Knopper, the real name of its creator. I just love the whacky names too :)

[qldit]

Good Morning Gentlemen, the beauty of Knoppix is it's ability to detect various hardware elements in your machine which it does very eloquently.

What if this excellent distro were taken and some enhancements made to it?

Well this has happened with Kanotix, (easter version) it is another variant based on Knoppix, which is based on Debian, which is probably one of the best ever distros. This is a 700 meg distro which really is nice, it also has autodetect automount for drives which is nice for beginners. These appear on the desktop ready for action.

It can be run as a live distro from a CD but it is a bit slow, however for someone wanting to really enjoy the benefits of Linux and still having Windows (for those rare occasions that it may be required) you can fit a second hard drive and have a Windows XP or whatever installed on the first drive, then have the second reserved for Linux.

The second hard drive can easily be partitioned with a Live Puppy Linux partitioning tool or with the Kanotix live CD partitioning tool.

A good partitioning idea is to give Kanotix ten or fifteen gigs and then have a swap partition for it to use. (I like a gig or double the RAM amount, not exceeding a gig). Then have a couple of gigs for Puppy Linux and another swap space of maybe a gig for it.
Because Puppy Linux operates as a Ramdrive system it is helpful to have a bit more swap space as this is added to the actual available RAM and can be useful.
A total free memory amount is indicated on the task bar in Puppy, this is additive of Ram and swap. It can be useful with some activities.

This will mean you have simple 4 primary partitions on that hard drive and no problems with extra partitioning concerns that are easily identifiable when you do an instal.

Kanotix installs quite nicely and easily to the first partition, it also can install a boot loader but is not neccessary if Puppy might be loaded on a drive afterward.

This is where Puppy linux becomes very useful. If it is run live from a CD it will boot as ramdrive, (similar to Kanotix) then it may be loaded to the hard drive from a fuly operational system using the universal install wizard in it.

As this installation happens, if the Grub Boot loader is selected and the MBR of the first drive is selected as the place for boot info, this very conveniently installs the Grub (GRand Unified Bootloader) such that on rebooting the machine, all three systems will be mentioned at reboot in the boot menu and you can boot whatever you like.

These systems are easily configged to be online with either, especially if you have broadband and are using an ethernet input.

Where this becomes incredibly useful is that you have the option for Windows, The incredible security of Kanotix with an awful lot of programs including Skype, and terrific usability for burning stuff or what ever, plus the incredible usability of Puppy, with its substantial speed and great online ability. (it is using Sea-Monkey a Mozilla Variant)
Puppy has some of the original Linux manual requirements where drives need to be mounted etc, so as a learning program it is very good.

As a rescue program for failed windows systems where material is needed to be retrieved from a problem hard drive, Puppy is probably the best from my experience simply because the burner in the machine may be useable to copy files to, after Puppy has loaded to memory, the CD can be removed.
Alternatively using simple control+drag and drop, from the windows directories involved, to a mounted flashdrive or even emailing attachments using Puppy can be very useful.
Getting online with a Live operating system is simple with the included wizards.
A firewall is included in these distros.
It is quite amazing what can be done with these programs because they actually read a hard drive differently to windows, so a drive may not be seen with windows that can be seen with Linux.
I have set up several machines for friends using this idea and they are very happy.
I don't bother with antivirus programs with Puppy and haven't had any problems to this point.
At least eighteen months constant online use.
There is a plethora of programs available at the Puppy Site if they are wanted, but it is pretty well designed with most programs already included.

It is nice to occasionally boot windows to hear the musical sounds and do all the neccessary scans and viral progam updates and wonder why it is where this program costs so much for such a pathetic progam.
Maybe Vista will crash more nicely!
Cheers, qldit.